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SMASHBOX | Full Exposure Travel Palette - Review + Swatches

Saturday, 17 January 2015

Everyone needs a versatile and compact eyeshadow palette which is easy to travel with, and this mini sized version of the larger Full Exposure Palette from Smashbox is a complete winner, with ample quality and a pretty stellar shade range.

I have plenty of palettes, but most of them are really larger and/or heavy and tend to not have the exact right shades that I would like when travelling. I often end up with a larger palette like the Urban Decay Naked 2, and also either of the Urban Decay Naked Basics (Basics 1 and Basics 2), as they cover the matte shades, where as the larger palettes tend to have a good mix of shimmer and satin finishes. The Full Exposure Travel/Mini Palette now takes the place of both of those and can easily slip into any makeup bag as the palette itself is about the size of a credit card and super slim. When I bought it in the Isle Of Doom at Sephora I was so surprised at how small this palette really was!

This palette pulls eight shades from the larger 14 pan palette (see a little bit about it here), and it's all sorts of beautiful, and if you're a neutral lover - this is the one for you. The top row has four shimmer shades that definitely pack a punch in the shimmer department. The texture is rich and buttery, but there can be a little bit of fall out so I like to pack it on in lighter layers rather than going in full hog all at once. The bronzey shade and champagne shades are absolutely winners, but there is also a good gunmetal grey if you wanted to go for a more smokier look. The matte shades totally impress, they are buttery, soft and have amazing colour pay off. I love using the lighter shades as a base and then using the darker browns in the crease and under the eyes.

I wasn't so sure about the Full Exposure when it first came out, and if you feel the same way, I would definitely recommend this mini sized version. You basically get the best of the shades from the bigger palette, at less than half the price (full size palette is USD $49.00 here), and for like an 1/8 of the size. You can find this palette for USD $22.00 from Sephora here.

What do you think of this palette? Do you have the big sized Full Exposure?